Good News: I got two tickets to see Jeff Mangum. After struggling for 10 minutes to get them on-line I literally ran to the Harvard Box Office to get them in person. Thank God the show is at Harvard, where I work.
Music adventures aside, I have been very wrapped up in food matters. I am currently doing research for a story on food security and obesity for my journalism class. If it turns out well I may try to pitch it to real publications (by "real" I mean not this blog).
My new favorite blog is that of my old boss, Farmer Jim Buckle of Allandale Farm. In the most recent post he shares his feelings on the impending slaughter of his buddies, Allandale's two Scotch Highland cows, Curtis and Willard. Even as a big proponent of eating meat, Jim admits he'll have a hard time saying goodbye. I love those beasts too, even though Willard once almost impaled me with one of his horns and I got sick of explaining to customers that no, they are not in fact bison or buffalo, just super furry cows.
With my seedlings at three inches high in my kitchen, I am getting super pumped about spring planting. I will be attending my last Master Urban Gardener class this week so, in theory, I am now better equipped to grow the garden of my dreams, and help others do the same. The plan this year is to both increase yield and integrate flowers into the bed at 34 Robeson. More on that here. I have already started holly hocks, cosmos and zinnias, though I recently read you're not supposed to start zinnias indoors. Oops. We'll see what happens.
I recently made my best loaf of bread to date. I didn't try to use whole wheat flour this time and I think it made a big difference. All together this loaf was made with bread flour, oatmeal, wheat germ, flax seed, salt and some multi-grain mix. I also coated the loaf in olive oil before baking. The crust was incredible.
Happy Weekend!
Showing posts with label food deserts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food deserts. Show all posts
Friday, March 4, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
A New Idea In the Food Movement
For about a year I've been wanting to launch a radio series that involves sitting down to dinner with some of the country's top food and farming experts. The aim would be to unearth some good ideas, maybe even a winning policy handle for addressing food deserts, food security, factory farming, or any number of the food related issues we face in this country. I also wanted to shed light on what IS working in America.
While it isn't a radio show, someone else beat me to the punch. Ellen Gustafson, FEED Foundation co-founder has launched a new initiative called The 30 Project. Here's her TED talk on the subject.
Ellen wants "engaged citizens" to have 30 person dinners where they talk about food in their communities and how they might "recreate basic food distribution and consumption patterns." I sure hope she has good organizers working on this. It sounds like a great, feel-good idea, but if dinner participants are not engaged, it might not lead to any real change. All kinds of people have been talking about our food problems for years. What we need is a forum for idea sharing on solutions so that we can establish best practices for solving our food problems at the local, regional and national level.
Something else fun:
Now you can see street art around the world with Street Art View, a collaboration with Google and Red Bull.
I am a casserole-making badass.
What's inside: potatoes, chunks of homemade bread, sauteed leeks and onions, eggs, milk, cheese, chicken sausage, salt, pepper and Slap Yo' Mama Cajun seasoning. Just 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
While it isn't a radio show, someone else beat me to the punch. Ellen Gustafson, FEED Foundation co-founder has launched a new initiative called The 30 Project. Here's her TED talk on the subject.
Ellen wants "engaged citizens" to have 30 person dinners where they talk about food in their communities and how they might "recreate basic food distribution and consumption patterns." I sure hope she has good organizers working on this. It sounds like a great, feel-good idea, but if dinner participants are not engaged, it might not lead to any real change. All kinds of people have been talking about our food problems for years. What we need is a forum for idea sharing on solutions so that we can establish best practices for solving our food problems at the local, regional and national level.
Something else fun:
Now you can see street art around the world with Street Art View, a collaboration with Google and Red Bull.
I am a casserole-making badass.
What's inside: potatoes, chunks of homemade bread, sauteed leeks and onions, eggs, milk, cheese, chicken sausage, salt, pepper and Slap Yo' Mama Cajun seasoning. Just 30 minutes at 350 degrees.Friday, January 14, 2011
Three Cool Ideas
1. The Good Gym
Help someone run an errand while you get your work out in.
2. Neighbors for Neighbors in Jamaica Plain just started SnowCrew, a group of volunteers who help their neighbors shovel after big snowstorms. You can sign up to shovel or get help via text message.
3. In urban food deserts like Detroit, why not let Walmart move in to establish small stores?
Help someone run an errand while you get your work out in.
2. Neighbors for Neighbors in Jamaica Plain just started SnowCrew, a group of volunteers who help their neighbors shovel after big snowstorms. You can sign up to shovel or get help via text message.
3. In urban food deserts like Detroit, why not let Walmart move in to establish small stores?
Monday, June 22, 2009
'Til we eat again
I just got back from seeing Food, Inc. with roommates Emily and Andrew. A film about where our food comes from and the 5 corporations that control our food market, it sparked quite the debate on the ride home. Mostly we discussed the weak (or maybe not so weak?) nature of the call to action at the end of the film, and the apparent futility of most efforts to change our food system. The film advised us to vote three times a day on food issues, plant a garden, cook dinner with our families and tell our representatives to pass Kevin's Law.
The fact that food is even traded as a commodity is problematic in itself and this way of thinking it so entrenched in this country. Moreover, the companies that control the industry are especially powerful, backed by money, politicians and the law. Is the food production system something we can even dream of changing?
To me it doesn't seem any less helpless than stopping overfishing or making a dent in the fight against global warming (I mean, we take on special interests all the time and win) but, as Emily pointed out, its a little different with food. People are going to eat no matter what, and most are going to eat what's cheap. But then again, CFL lightbulbs haven't always been cheap. I'm choosing to retain my optimism but when even a movie like this can't really tell me what I'm supposed to do to affect a food revolution, where am I to turn?
I've been wondering for several months now what will be the tipping point for the food movement. How can Michael Pollan be a little more like Al Gore or Van Jones? Could Food, Inc. be as influential as "An Inconvenient Truth"? Not yet. The food movement is still so problem-oriented. So far, most of the popular solutions are super local. We don't have wind/solar, green jobs or other big scale, common-sense solutions to our food problems yet.
I think the answer may lie in the the food safety/public health angle, tied with putting people to work in urban agriculture. Pretty soon someone will find a way to make it profitable. How great would it be to green Detroit and create jobs growing broccoli in brown fields? Viva brassica!
The guy who checked me out at Trader Joe's the other night told me he doesn't believe in buying organic, thinks its all a scam. And this was in Massachussetts, where folks don't blink an eye at composting, acai berry eating mixed-race lesbian households. Eating organic is just a given to all those who can afford it. The vote with your fork angle isn't going to pull mainstream America into the fold. The farms to schools notion is pretty sexy - We probably could fight to get local, healthy food in public schools, and that would be a huge accomplishment. However, until there is a significant movement to shift the bottom line in food markets, food deserts will grow more commonplace, the childhood diabetes epidemic will continue to spread and Monsanto will still be making hamburgers with ammonia-treated beef. Gross!
In the organizing-to-win world of change-making, we're quick to dismiss people who make a big deal out of starting community gardens and organizing new farmers' markets. I say thank God for them because the food justice revolution is going to be a long, ugly fight and we might as well share zukes and cukes with our neighbors in meantime.
The fact that food is even traded as a commodity is problematic in itself and this way of thinking it so entrenched in this country. Moreover, the companies that control the industry are especially powerful, backed by money, politicians and the law. Is the food production system something we can even dream of changing?
To me it doesn't seem any less helpless than stopping overfishing or making a dent in the fight against global warming (I mean, we take on special interests all the time and win) but, as Emily pointed out, its a little different with food. People are going to eat no matter what, and most are going to eat what's cheap. But then again, CFL lightbulbs haven't always been cheap. I'm choosing to retain my optimism but when even a movie like this can't really tell me what I'm supposed to do to affect a food revolution, where am I to turn?
I've been wondering for several months now what will be the tipping point for the food movement. How can Michael Pollan be a little more like Al Gore or Van Jones? Could Food, Inc. be as influential as "An Inconvenient Truth"? Not yet. The food movement is still so problem-oriented. So far, most of the popular solutions are super local. We don't have wind/solar, green jobs or other big scale, common-sense solutions to our food problems yet.
I think the answer may lie in the the food safety/public health angle, tied with putting people to work in urban agriculture. Pretty soon someone will find a way to make it profitable. How great would it be to green Detroit and create jobs growing broccoli in brown fields? Viva brassica!
The guy who checked me out at Trader Joe's the other night told me he doesn't believe in buying organic, thinks its all a scam. And this was in Massachussetts, where folks don't blink an eye at composting, acai berry eating mixed-race lesbian households. Eating organic is just a given to all those who can afford it. The vote with your fork angle isn't going to pull mainstream America into the fold. The farms to schools notion is pretty sexy - We probably could fight to get local, healthy food in public schools, and that would be a huge accomplishment. However, until there is a significant movement to shift the bottom line in food markets, food deserts will grow more commonplace, the childhood diabetes epidemic will continue to spread and Monsanto will still be making hamburgers with ammonia-treated beef. Gross!
In the organizing-to-win world of change-making, we're quick to dismiss people who make a big deal out of starting community gardens and organizing new farmers' markets. I say thank God for them because the food justice revolution is going to be a long, ugly fight and we might as well share zukes and cukes with our neighbors in meantime.
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